18 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
Excellent washer that is well worth the money
Date of Review: Oct 9, 2007
The Bottom Line: This washer is expensive, but the savings in water and energy, as well as the excellent cleaning capabilities make it well worth the investment. Plus, it's fun to watch.
Okay. This is review number 53 for this product, so I won't go into the horrid details of what this sucker can do. I will cover the basics. The WM2688H is one of two SteamWashers that LG makes. This one is probably what would be considered the top-of-the-line model. It is a front loading High Efficiency washer. That means it should only be used with HE detergents, and will use far less water than traditional washers.
This model has 9 different cycles, including a sanitary cycle which I understand can take up to two hours (for extremely soiled clothing), and a Steam Fresh cycle, which can be used to freshen up clothes. I have yet to use the sanitary cycle. I have used the Steam Fresh cycle. It works exactly as expected. It gives the clothes a quick tumble with a small amount of steam. When the clothes are done, you are instructed to let them hang for 10 minutes. This is because they do come out slightly damp from the steam. I have read some reviews that claim the Steam Fresh did not get out all the wrinkles. Nowhere in the LG manual does it claim it will. However, it does say that the Steam Fresh cycle is NOT recommended for cotton clothes. It really is better at refreshing Permanent Press clothes.
I have mainly used the Cotton/Normal, Permanent Press, and Delicates cycles. Some have claimed that the wash cycles are considerably longer than on traditional washers. I haven't found these cycles to be too much longer. You can add steam to the cotton/normal and permanent press cycles, to help remove tough stains. This will add extra time to the cycle. However, so far, this has extended one cycle to 62 minutes at most. I will admit that the added steam helped the LG SteamWasher remove a black stain from a white shirt, that my 15 year old Kenmore could not budge. It took two washes with steam, but the stain completely disappeared.
The LG SteamWasher does come with extra options, such as extra water, extra rinse, spin speed, and (for select cycles) the ability to adjust water temperature. So far I have not needed these options, as the default settings seem to work just fine.
You can set a delay time for your washer so it can run after everyone is in bed and had their showers. I haven't used this yet since I have found that the washer uses so little water that it does not interfere with showers. Also, since the washer has a built in heater, it will make sure the water is the required temperature.
Some people have said that the spin cycles on this thing are so fast their clothes come out practically dry. Apparently, my Kenmore had a great spin cycle as well. The clothes don't seem any dryer out of the LG. I have noticed improved drying times, but only slightly.
The LG SteamWasher is expensive, costing $1599 retail. Fortunately, I caught it on sale and paid $1199. I actually paid $100 less than the next model down, which wasn't on sale. Since these washers are fairly new, and have not built a reliability record, I would certainly recommend an extended warranty. While the washer is one of the most expensive, the features, energy and water savings, and quality of cleaning make it worth the investment.
An added bonus is the entertainment factor. I don't know if it speaks for how entertaining the washer is, or how dismal TV is, but we actually find ourselves setting chairs in front of the washer and watching the wash cycles instead of TV. A stainless steel drum spinning at 1320 RPM. Now, that's entertainment.
